The Saint on TV by Ian Dickerson

The path to TV Heaven for the Saint and Leslie Charteris started in 1952, but the signposts to it had been planted in the 1940s: Vincent Price, during his spell as the Saint on the radio, had observed that the Saint’s creator Leslie Charteris “wanted to play it in every media” and in late 1948 Charteris had been approached by an Argentine company wishing to produce a series of Spanish-language Saint shorts—that is to say a series of films lasting twenty-five minutes, not an item of Saintly apparel. He refused them point blank. Even in the media intensive 21st Century Argentinean film and television productions are not know for the international sales and recognition that Charteris felt his creation deserved.

It wasn’t until 1952, with the American TV industry still very much wearing its nappies, that Charteris began to seriously study ways to put the Saint on television; the blossoming small screen industry seemed the perfect next step for the adventures of Leslie Charteris, as creator of the Robin Hood of Modern Crime.

Earlier that year he’d renegotiated the contract for the Saint radio shows retrieving control of the TV rights, which had previously been bundled alongside the radio rights as TV hadn’t really kicked into gear. He was now determined to develop a TV show for the Saint and penned a number of scripts, designed to show how a half-hour Saint TV show would run.

He set to work with an LA based producer packaging the scripts and offering them as “a series or program of motion pictures for use exclusively on television and radio” targeting David Niven for the lead. It never made it in to production and with the benefit of hindsight it can be suggested that no one was willing to risk engaging Charteris, who had absolutely no experience in producing or directing a TV show.

Some verification of this theory was offered over a year later when Ted Ashley, of the Ashley-Famous Agency had tried to sell the Saint on TV. He summarized the problems they were encountering;

I regret having to advise you that the general opinion has been that the scripts are not sufficiently interesting and particularly, not of the proper type, in terms of general content for a motion picture television film.

...we have indicated that you would write scripts or have them written under your supervision...

...there are many indications that a pilot film and possibly a commitment assuring the production of a minimum of 13 pictures can be obtained, if you would be willing to limit your relationship to that of general advisor on scripts, casting, direction and production...

By 1960 the Saint was still to conquer television.

Labels: 2010, Ian Dickerson, Leslie Charteris, TV, Vincent Price

Labels: 2010, Ian Dickerson, The Saint Club

Hodder & Stoughton will be publishing two Saint anthologies in the Autumn of 2008. Unoriginally entitled The Best of the Saint (volumes 1 and 2) they'll feature a selection of stories from across the Saint's career (including one which has never appeared in an English paperback before); each volume will also have an introduction from a notable Saint (or Saint fan) plus some additional material by me. Current plans are for each book to have a yellow jacket cover, along the lines of the old H&S style.

Next year will also see the publication of the definitive history of the Saint's television adventures. Currently and unoriginally entitled The Saint on TV, it's written by me (Ian Dickerson) and if you thought the story of the Saint on TV started with Roger Moore, well this book will show you otherwise. It starts in 1940s Hollywood and this book follows the Saint on TV right up to the present day and the new show in development.

Amongst other things it provides a unique episode guide to all three Saint TV series detailing plots, cast, crew, filming locations and critical reaction. It also comprehensively details what many of the cast and crew have been up to since they met the Saint. And perhaps of more interest to you lot, tells the full story behind The Saint in Manhattan and The Saint (with Simon Dutton) using exclusive interviews with many of the cast and crew involved on the productions to analyse what went wrong.

There's loads more in it but I'm not spilling all my beans here. If you want to know more about it, or the two reprints, keep checking www.lesliecharteris.com because that's where the latest news will be.

Labels: 2007, Ian Dickerson, Ian Ogilvy, Roger Moore, Simon Dutton, The Saint Club, TV

From: The Saint Club
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 7:34 AM
Subject: Saint Club Merchandise

Dear All,

Please find attached a pdf file detailing the latest Saint Club merchandise. This is a taster for the Christmas letter, which should be following via good old snailmail in a few weeks time.

If you wish to order anything via e-mail you can as long as you use PayPal. E-mail me for more details.

Best wishes,

Ian Dickerson,
Honorary Secretary, The Saint Club

Labels: 2007, Ian Dickerson, The Saint Club

Roger Moore, who starred as Simon Templar in the original TV series, celebrates the centenary of the birth of popular fiction writer Leslie Charteris, famous for his adventures featuring the character better known as The Saint. The programme includes rare interview footage of Charteris along with contributions from his family, actor Ian Ogilvy and Charteris biographer Ian Dickerson.

We are experiencing severe technical problems, and regret that many programmes are unavailable. We are working to restore normal service. See station websites for alternative links.

Labels: 2007, Barbra Paskin, BBC, Ian Dickerson, Ian Ogilvy, Leslie Charteris, Roger Moore

Labels: 2007, Ian Dickerson, Leslie Charteris

This year marks the centenary of the birth of popular fiction writer Leslie Charteris, best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of Simon Templar, alias The Saint.
In this special programme, actor and Saint portrayer Roger Moore explores the life and legacy of Charteris and reveals a world of adventure, torment, insecurity, failed marriages and enormous success as a thriller writer.

The adventures of The Saint have appeared continuously since 1928, making Simon Templar the longest-running character in contemporary detective fiction. But there was more to Charteris's literary acuity than The Saint alone. He was fluent in several languages; he had a monthly column in the epicurial delight, Gourmet magazine; and he devised a pictorial sign language which he called "Paleneo" and wrote a book about it. He was also one of the earliest members of Mensa.

Despite his film-star looks, with a hint of exoticism, Charteris suffered from a long-standing insecurity about his appearance, arising from his mixed racial origin. In later years he dated some of Hollywood's most beautiful women, among them Marlene Dietrich and Jean Harlow.

It wasn't until 1963, when Lou Grade cast Roger Moore and filmed the first television series of The Saint, that Charteris at last felt he'd received the final seal of approbation that had eluded him for 30 years.

Among those exploring the world and psyche of Charteris are Dan Bodenheimer, who runs the official Saint website; Burl Barer, author of The History Of The Saint; and Charteris's biographer Ian Dickerson.

Labels: 2007, Barbra Paskin, BBC, Burl Barer, Ian Dickerson, Leslie Charteris, Roger Moore

Labels: 2007, Ian Dickerson

Labels: 2007, Barbra Paskin, BBC, Burl Barer, Ian Dickerson, Ian Ogilvy, Leslie Charteris, Roger Moore

Labels: 2007, George Sanders, Ian Dickerson, Ian Ogilvy, Leslie Charteris, Louis Hayward, Roger Moore, Vincent Price

Thanks to the help of Dan Bodenheimer (of www.saint.org) and Ian Dickerson (of www.lesliecharteris.com), the French Saint website has just undergone a massive update:

- Four new pages are now devoted to the French edition of LE SAINT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE which feature all 154 issues and index all the Leslie Charteris et al. stories published therein (with the same information then added to the Bibliography page), with more cover scans to come.

- It turns out that there were FOUR stories published in LSDM not collected in book form: (i) The Noble Sportsman, (ii) Le Saint et les Prospecteurs, a Michel-Tyl adaptation of a NYHT strip, (iii) Amours, Gadgets et Colonel, of which nothing is known at this time, and (iv) The Power Artist, a Fleming Lee collaboration, which was, however, later retranslated in the Livre de Poche Saint on TV collection. In particular, (ii) and (iii) are the first time these stories have come to the attention of Saint fans everywhere!

- It also turns out that the Charteris original The Uncritical Publisher was never translated after all, although there is a 1945 French-Canadian edition of The Saint Intervenes.

- Our Cover Gallery Page 7 now includes additional covers of rare 1950s Saint reprints, the Fayard "Omnibus" volumes, and the Lefrancq reprints of the mid-1990s.

- Finally, fans of French cover artist Bernad will enjoy additional cover scans of the Fayard NERO WOLFE and TOFF series.

Labels: 2007, French, Ian Dickerson, Jean-Marc Lofficier

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Labels: 2007, Burl Barer, Ian Dickerson, Leslie Charteris

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Labels: 2007, DVD, Ian Dickerson, Ian Ogilvy, Oliver Onions, Return of The Saint, Roger Moore, TV

Labels: 2006, DVD, Ian Dickerson, Ian Ogilvy, Leslie Charteris, Return of The Saint, Sherlock Holmes

• Ian Dickerson of The Saint Club, and webmaster of LesieCharteris.com and IanOgilvy.com
  
• Burl Barer, author of Capture The Saint, The Saint: The Complete History, and the movie novelization of The Saint
  
• Dan Bodenheimer, Webmaster of Saint.org
  
• James Wilson of The Saint: The Roger Moore Years
  
• Jean-Marc Lofficier, a noted expert about The Saint in French
  
• Robert Manley of The Saint Online discussion forums
  
• Ian Golledge of OzSaint
  
• Jaz Wiseman, noted ITC expert and member of the Saint DVD team.
  
• Natalie Hilder, founder and administrator of the Simply Moore forums.
  

Labels: 2006, Burl Barer, DVD, French, Ian Dickerson, Jean-Marc Lofficier, Roger Moore

Labels: 2006, Amazon.com, Ian Dickerson, Leslie Charteris, TV